St. Patrick’s Day Crafts with Kids

St. Patrick’s Day was always one of my favorite holidays growing up. Not because we are Irish (we aren’t) but because my favorite color is green and my brother’s name is Patrick! St. Patrick’s Day can be a fun holiday to celebrate even if you don’t have any Irish heritage. Here are a few fun craft activities to do at home that are easy and affordable!

What to do: Cut a piece of contact paper (whatever size you’d like to decorate) and tape it to a window, sticky side out, at child height. Take about 4 pieces of tissues paper and fold them over several times. Folding the tissue paper will make it so you only have to trace around your cookie cutters and cut once, instead of cutting out a bunch of shamrocks individually. I used two different shades of green tissue paper and two size shamrocks for variety. Have child stick tissue paper to the contact paper. The contact paper will remain sticky for several days so children can return to this activity day after day.

What to do: Put some white paint on the paper plates, making sure that it is spread over most of the plate for easy dipping, then have your child stamp dipped cookie cutters onto the green paper. This can obviously be done with white paper and green paint, as well. Fold the dried paintings in half, write a message and you have a cute St. Patrick’s Day card for grandparents, too!

Tissue Paper Rainbows

What you need: – one piece of tissue paper in every color of the rainbow – cardstock – markers – tacky glue

What to do: This activity probably took us the most time to prepare, but my two-year-old son loved helping me rip and crumble tissue paper! I used one piece of tissue paper of each color, but we had lots leftover, so really only a half of a piece of tissue paper in each color would suffice. Begin by ripping off approximately one inch pieces of tissue and crumble into a ball. I used a fruit tray to sort the colors (with the help of my child). Draw your rainbow design on the cardstock. I provided two possible examples of a rainbow – one labeled with a stripe of each color, other with color words. If you have older children who are learning to recognize sight words, you could write the color words in black and they would have to read to determine which color went where. Put a strip of glue in each row then have your child stick on the tissue paper. If working with younger children, I recommend putting glue on one color at a time to help them with placement. This is a great activity to strengthen fine motor skills!

You’ll likely have leftover tissue paper and contact paper from these crafts. Here are a few examples of other things you can do with the materials you purchased (Using paint dotters on a rainbow; Making a rainbow/pot of gold with contact paper on the window). Additionally, I recommend attending the parade, doing a “green tasting” of lots of different green foods, making cookies, and dancing to Irish music! Have a great St. Patrick’s Day!

About The Author

Megan Noel, veteran educator with 10 years of teaching experience and a PhD in Early Childhood Education, enjoys researching childhood through the eyes of her two young children, while writing about her family’s adventures on IndywithKids.com. She welcomes questions and comments at megan@indywithkids.com. Follow me on Twitter - @EtDrnkandBMegan and learn more about me professionally here: www.linkedin.com/pub/megan-noel/61/b18/a20/